Social Security

[d58793g]

I have sent the following to each of my congressional delegation:

Senator Lankford;

Last, I recall, I sent you an email regarding the Social Security Trust Fund. I have yet to hear from you regarding my inquiry. Again, I am asking that Congress (both house and senate) repay funds that have been "borrowed" (stolen) to make the trust fund solvent.

Also, I request that you author legislation to put a lock box on the SSTF to keep congress from using it to make up shortfalls in the budget. Social Security funds are not for congress to "tap" into to fund government. It is money that we senior citizens paid into from our paychecks all our working lives. It is not an entitlement, to be taken away from those of us that have earned it.

Respectfully:

Darrell Gilbert

[GailL1]

@d58793g 

Maybe he hasn’t answered you because your assumption is incorrect - 

The only borrowing they have done is to include it in the overall numbers - done that way, meaning a unified budget *, it is just part of the whole - and the “whole” is broke.

          * Unified Budget: A comprehensive display of the Federal budget. This display includes all revenues and all spending for all regular Federal programs and trust funds. The 1967 President's Commission on Budget Concepts recommended the unified budget and it has been the basis for budgeting since 1968.

As far as knowing what is in the Trust Fund, it is all there for anybody to see.  A detailed by year list of:

(1) what income went into the Trust Funds-

• from payroll contributions,
• taxes on benefits and
• interest on the Special Treasures where the amount not spent yet remains.

(2) what came out of the Trust Funds

• benefit payments

Have a look -

SSA.gov - Old Age, Survivors and Disability Trust Fund Data - 1957 - 2024

Notice the negative numbers in the “net change during the year” column since 2021, that means those amounts are having to come out of the reserve - and with a lesser reserve - the less interest is paid.  As this continues the reserve gets less and less - until it get to the point of insolvency now projected to be 2033 / 2034  - the time when by law the Trust Fund cannot paid 100% of the benefits to everybody entitled to a benefit.

SSA.gov - Social Security 2025 Trustee Report Summary  

per the link [copy - paste]

• The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund will be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits until 2033, unchanged from last year’s report. At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing program income will be sufficient to pay 77 percent of total scheduled benefits.

• The Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund is projected to be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits through at least 2099, the last year of this report’s projection period. Last year’s report projected that the DI Trust Fund would be able to pay scheduled benefits through at least 2098, the last year of that report’s projection period.

• If the OASI Trust Fund and the DI Trust Fund projections were combined, the resulting projected fund (designated OASDI) would be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits until 2034, one year earlier than reported last year. At that time, the projected fund’s reserves would become depleted, and continuing total fund income would be sufficient to pay 81 percent of scheduled benefits. (The two funds could not actually be combined unless there were a change in the law, but the combined projection of the two funds is frequently used to indicate the overall status of the Social Security program.)

[end copy-paste]

Since NO actual borrowing is the problem - perhaps another letter with some other suggestions to fix the problem - there are endless ones - but yet, they take NO action because nobody can agree on what the fixes should be - 

But like the Conclusion that has been written in the annual SS Trustee Report ever year since 2010 says - 

Lawmakers have many options for changes that would reduce or eliminate the long-term financing shortfalls. Taking action sooner rather than later will allow consideration of a broader range of solutions and provide more time to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare.